Huatulco or Mexico City?

This is Huatulco's whole reason for being. Golden-sand coves such as La Entrega, Santa Cruz and Chahué have calm, clear water where you can snorkel straight from the shore, Tangolunda carries the resort strip, and boats reach wilder bays like Cacaluta and El Órgano inside the national park.

Mexico City sits high on a plateau, and the nearest coast is a long road trip away, so swimming means a hotel pool. Anyone who wants both usually adds coastal days before or after the city, and Huatulco is a natural candidate.

Huatulco eats simply and well: mole, tlayudas and banana-leaf tamales at La Crucecita's market and fondas, and whole fish grilled at palapas on the sand. Beyond that the choice is thin, and resort dining leans towards buffets.

Mexico City is a reason to travel in itself. Al pastor tacos late into the night, markets like Medellín and La Merced, old pulquerías and cantinas, and some of the most respected tasting menus in the Americas in Roma, Condesa and Polanco give a range Huatulco cannot approach. The coast does have the edge on fresh seafood eaten by the water.

Huatulco is a planned resort, and its sights fit into a morning: the painted dome of La Crucecita's church, the small pre-Hispanic site at Copalita, and the colonial church in Santa María Huatulco.

Mexico City has one of the great historic centres of the continent, with the Zócalo, the cathedral, Rivera's murals in the National Palace and the excavated Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan side by side. Add the National Museum of Anthropology, Chapultepec Castle, the Kahlo house in Coyoacán and the canals of Xochimilco, and a week still feels short.

Nights in Huatulco usually mean a long dinner, a mezcal on La Crucecita's plaza and a beachfront bar in Santa Cruz, with most of the town quiet by midnight. People who want a party head up the coast to Zipolite.

Mexico City keeps going until morning. Roma and Condesa are made for bar-hopping on foot between cocktail bars, mezcalerías and rooftops, old Centro cantinas give a traditional evening, and there are electronic clubs, salsa halls and a large LGBTQ scene in the Zona Rosa.

Huatulco has the stronger outdoors, and it starts at the water's edge. The national park joins dry forest, cliffs, blowholes and coral reefs good for snorkelling and diving, humpback whales pass offshore in winter, and inland there is rafting on the Copalita and waterfalls and coffee farms in the Sierra Sur.

Mexico City's nature is either in the city, at Chapultepec and the Xochimilco wetlands, or a drive away in the volcano country of Iztaccíhuatl, Popocatépetl and Nevado de Toluca, with the monarch butterfly reserves in winter. The scenery is grand, but traffic eats into the day and the dry-season air can be poor.

From Huatulco the best outing is about an hour west along the coast to Mazunte's turtle centre, Puerto Ángel and Zipolite, or two hours to Puerto Escondido. Oaxaca city is too far to manage without an overnight stay.

Mexico City has more in reach and more variety. Teotihuacan's pyramids are about an hour away, Puebla and the great pyramid at Cholula about two, and to the south lie Cuernavaca, Tepoztlán and silver-town Taxco. The price is traffic leaving the city, so early starts pay off.

Both work for families, in opposite ways. Huatulco is an easy beach base: calm coves where children snorkel among fish, resort pools and kids' clubs, and a small town that is simple to manage, though there is little for older children beyond the sea.

Mexico City offers a zoo, the hands-on Papalote museum, an aquarium, a theme park, Xochimilco boats and lucha libre, but its size, traffic, crowded metro and altitude mean planning days by neighbourhood.

Huatulco is small but spread out. La Crucecita and the walk to Santa Cruz are fine on foot, while other bays need a taxi or colectivo, and the remoter beaches and coffee hills are easiest by boat or hire car.

Mexico City is easier for a visitor despite its size. The Centro, Roma, Condesa, Polanco and Coyoacán are pleasant to walk, and a cheap metro, the Metrobús and bike-share link them. Rush-hour crowds, pickpockets and long distances mean most people also use ride-hailing cars, and a car of your own is more trouble than it is worth.

Huatulco's shopping is a few craft and souvenir stalls around La Crucecita and Santa Cruz, with textiles, black pottery, alebrijes, hammocks, mezcal and coffee, and no fashion at all.

Mexico City gathers crafts from the whole country at La Ciudadela, with Oaxacan pottery among them. It adds the San Ángel Saturday bazaar, the Lagunilla flea market, luxury houses on Masaryk in Polanco, grand department stores and Mexican designers in Roma and Condesa, so serious shoppers should save their budget for the capital.

Huatulco is reasonable for a beach resort if you stay in La Crucecita and eat at the market, but the all-inclusives in Tangolunda, boat tours and hotel dining push costs up, especially in high season.

Mexico City is cheaper to get by in day to day. Street tacos, market lunches, metro rides and many museums cost little, and ride-hailing is affordable. Spending only rises sharply in the boutique hotels, restaurants and cocktail bars of Roma, Condesa and Polanco, which a careful traveller can avoid by staying in the Centro.

Huatulco has almost nothing to plan an evening around beyond resort folk dance shows, a few bar bands and music on the plaza at festival time.

Mexico City has the national opera, symphony and the Ballet Folklórico at Bellas Artes, concerts at Sala Nezahualcóyotl and the Auditorio Nacional, mariachis in Plaza Garibaldi, jazz and son clubs, and the loud spectacle of lucha libre at Arena México.

Huatulco is the more restful of the two because the place itself is slow: low-rise, uncrowded and quiet in the evening, with full spas at the Tangolunda and Conejos resorts and easy massage in town.

Mexico City has good spas in Polanco, Roma and Condesa, but noise, traffic and altitude work against relaxation, and calm comes from Coyoacán's plazas or a long café morning. Both offer the temazcal steam bath, and in the capital the usual way to retreat is to head south to Cuernavaca or Tepoztlán.